Life saving apparatus



WITNESSES: INVENTOR 7?' @Hw/@7. www# ATTORNEYS (No Model.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

J. REEB. LIFE SAVING APPARATUS.

Patented Mar. 30, 1897.

wnNEssEs:

ATENT JOSEPH REEB, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

LIFE-SAVING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 579,772, dated March30, 1897.

Application led July 24, 1896. Serial Noi 600,371. (No model.)

said stock from the building in case of iire through a connectionpreferably on the outside of the building.

The invention may be applied to a building having any number of st-allsand to buildings having stalls upon one or more floors, for by slightalterations,without departing from the spirit of my invention, theapparatus can be modified to meet any exigency.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of thisspecification, Figure l represents a sectional plan view taken above thefirst floor of a building. Fig. 2 represents a vertical section takenthrough one of the stalls. Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view of theguide-rail. Fig. 4 is a detail view of the lock employed by me insecuring the halter. Fig. 5 is a detail view to a larger scale.

In the drawings, A represents a stall, of which there may be one or anynumber, as before stated, and the stalls may be located upon the sameiioor or upon different floors, my invention being adapted, as beforestated, to accommodate itself to any number of floors. Above the stalland at one side thereof and arranged close to or forming a part of theceiling B are guide-rails O O. These guiderails are preferably formed inthe manner shown in Fig. 3, and consist of complementary an gle-irons soarranged as to provide an opening or way between them. Upon these railsand extending through the opening is a trolley or shoe D. This trolleyor shoe rests upon the bottom of the guide-rail and travels thereon andis provided with a lip d, extending through the opening O. Attached tothe lower end of the lip cl is a chain or cable E, fastened at its lowerend to the attaching-rin g F. To this attaching-ring also is secured thehalter G of the animal. This ring is normally held in place by theslide-bolt H, of which there may be any number working as a series andaccording to the number of stalls to be controlled, and operable from asingle source or handle I, preferably upon the eX- terior of thebuilding or at or near the entrance, which arrangement facilitates theeasy and quick manipulation of the apparatus, as will be explained.

Attached to the other end of the trolley or shoe is a rope or cable JJ', the latter being simply a branch or tributary of the main rope orcable K. The main rope or cable extends also to the exterior of thebuilding or to a point at or near the entrance of the building for theeasy and quick manipulation of the apparatus. The main rope or cable Krests upon andtravels in the trunk guide-rails. It

vis made of a size large enough to prevent its slipping through.

I will now proceed to describe more particularly my system of guiderails or Ways for carrying my invention into effect; and they consist,essentially, of a main rail or way from which radiate branches runninginto the different rooms and floors and from which subbranches mayradiate, running into the various stalls, the apparatus in this respectlending itself to its environment and being adapted to be changed andmodified according to the particular circumstances.

I have illustrated my invention in connection with a stable having anumber of stalls, and at T, I show what I may term a trunk guide-rail,into which feed the individual stall-rails O O'. These rails arearranged approximately parallel with the stalls aforesaid and extendnearly, if not quite, their entire length, departing from the parallelline as they approach the trunk rail and enter the said trunk, located,possibly, at right angles thereto, as shown in the drawings bya curvedline R, which curve is a continuation of the guide-rails C C. 'Subbranchrails may be led into branches and branches similarly into the trunk.The stall-rails C O are located, preferably, upon one side of thestalls, thus facilitating the operation and permitting the animal toturn the more easily.

It is necessary in the proper carrying out of my invention to introducethe oppositely- IOO arranged stallrails at somewhat different points, asshown in Fig. 5, so that the trolleys in being drawn into the main linefrom the branches will not enter at exactly the same moment or at thesame point. Thus the branch rail C is shown as entering the trunk rail Tin advance of the branch rail C. By this means any possibility ofentanglement is avoided and each trolley Will fall into line in itsproper place. To add to the efficiency of the invention in this respect,I also make the series of branch ropes or cables upon one side of thetrunk line shorter in length than the other side. For instance,referring to Fig. 5 of the drawings, the series of branch ropes J uponthe right-hand side of the trunk rope K are shorter than the branchropes J upon the other side of the trunk, and consequently will Withdrawquicker. Thus successive and non-interfering action is established.

The operation of my device is as follows: The main rope or cable K, withits branches, being in position in the trunk and branch guide rails orways and the securing cords or ropes aforesaid at their upper ends tothe trolleys or shoes and at their lower ends to the attaching-rings F,the apparatus is ready for emergency use, Upon the discovery of fire thehandle I of the locking slide-bolts II is immediately Withdrawn from itsclosed or locked position, which operation would liberate the entireseries of attaching-rings F. By this means the animals are no longersecured to the stall, but through the intermediary halters,attaching-rings, and securing chains or cables E are controlled by themain rope or cable K and its connecting branches. The next step in theoperation is the withdrawal of the main rope or cable K, which operationwill canse the branch ropes or cables J to followit outwardly, thetrolleys or shoes D falling in line one after the other in their pathsthrough the branch guide-rails into the trunk rail.

The method or action is plainly visible and understandable from theabove, and it will be seen that I have secured and produced an apparatuswhereby from a single source, preferably operable at a point exterior ofthe building, all animals in the building can be released by a singleact and by a second act Withdrawn successively from the burningbuilding.

This apparatus and system can, as before stated, be applied to a stablecontaining a number of stalls in different rooms of the same floor orupon different floors, and the trunk and branch guide-rails can becontinued upon the ceiling from the room or stall or stairway throughany reasonable number of lioors and rooms.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

In combination with a main overhead trunk rail, branch rails extendingtherefrom in substantially the saine horizontal plane and from bothsides and entering said trunk rail in such a manner that the rails ofoppositely-arranged stalls will enter the trunk rail, the one slightlyin advance of the other, trolleys arranged to run on or in same, a maintrunk rope with branching ropes of different lengths as described andconnected to said trolleys and means secured to said trolleys forattachment to the animals in the stalls.

JosEPI-I Rune.

lVitnesses:

HERBERT KNIGHT, HARRY LEvEnE'r'r.

